VIENNA OFFICE

[Mikac15]

My husband sent a police clearance on the 30 Sep. And it was the NEW one, since we originally submitted wrong one (our mistake). Today he received the signature that the letter was received on the 15th of October. I am hoping that they will request the passport soon. How long should we expect the request? Status still says "application received".
Congratulations to all that got the PR and good luck to the rest of us!

Hi Jagoda,

I am sorry to say your waiting time is just starting. What Vienna does when they receive an application is look over to see if they have gotten a complete package. Since you were missing the correct police certificate, they contacted you right away. All of us that have gotten a passport request were asked to RE-DO the police certificate because the one we sent the first time expired (the expiry date is 1 year). Most of us who have gotten passport requests applied last year (jun,jul,aug,sept,oct,nov) with some exceptions.
The best thing I can tell you is to be patient and know that when your status changes to "IN PROCESS" you are close to the end. Until the status change, you are just waiting.
Good luck!

 

[Mikac15]

We are driving there on Sunday, spend the night in Vienna and go Monday morning to the embassy. This is so exciting, we just booked the hotel today
It's an 8 hour drive from where we live, but we decided to make it a mini vacation. We're bringing the dog with us as well

Sounds like so much fun! My husband sent his passport by DHL today and tomorrow it will be in Vienna!
Let us know how it went with getting your visa in person when you get the chance!
Cheers!

 

[Mikac15]

Well... registered mail takes about a week each way plus the time in between the time they receive it to the time they actually send it back to you but I don't know if they can send it to you by registered mail since you have to pay for that in advance. Couriers such as DHL (in Germany at least) they have the service to pay for the return in advance and the express over night one costs 50 Euros each way but it is one day each way, however they don't have the prepaid return service in every country so you should ask. Generally using a courier is a lot more reliable and safer than just a registered mail especially since you're sending an important document like the passport. I have't really decided yet because I'm still waiting but I talked to the post office today and I think I'm going to go with the over night DHL and return. Maybe your husband should ask the local DHL, UPS, and other courier service offices for the best option.

We decided to go with DHL overnight. DHL told us that Vienna changed the rules about two years ago. In order for Vienna to return the passport by using DHL, DHL has to contact VIENNA to see if the passport is ready. They had cases where DHL would be emailing everyday for 2 weeks to see when they can come by to pick up the package. It should be the other way around in my opinion. Vienna should call DHL when they are ready to send the package(s) (if the person paid for the RETURN in advance). It even says it in the email-letter my husband received that DHL has to contact them (VIENNA VISA OFFICE) by email to see when the package is ready which is crazy (I believe this portion of the email is old and just copy-pasted). Instead, Vienna now sends packages back via Austrian postal service, whatever that is.
So for everyone out there sending passport by mail (and not VAC centres) use a courier service like DHL, UPS or your local express post and don't worry about the return because Vienna won't return it like that.

You said you might go with DHL, what did you decide? Did you pay for the return? There was another person on this forum that said they paid for the return of the passport but Vienna returned the passport via Austrian postal service and she got her money back from DHL because the return waybill went unused.

 

[Mikac15]

It is really great to see so many people get their good news and that it also so often takes less than the dreaded 17 months advertised.

I have another quick question about documents - my wife who is sponsoring me is writing a letter about why she left Canada and why she is only returning now. One of the reasons we stayed behind is that fertility treatment was much cheaper here. She is attaching a couple of Dr. reports and I was wondering if it is OK for us to translate them or do we need certified translations? Approaching the light at the end of the tunnel...before heading into the 17 month tunnel

For official documents, like from police stations, courts, hospitals, doctor's offices you should get certified translations. For skype, facebook, chats..etc. you can leave it the way it is or translate portions yourself.

 

[Avissa]

We decided to go with DHL overnight. DHL told us that Vienna changed the rules about two years ago. In order for Vienna to return the passport by using DHL, DHL has to contact VIENNA to see if the passport is ready. They had cases where DHL would be emailing everyday for 2 weeks to see when they can come by to pick up the package. It should be the other way around in my opinion. Vienna should call DHL when they are ready to send the package(s) (if the person paid for the RETURN in advance). It even says it in the email-letter my husband received that DHL has to contact them (VIENNA VISA OFFICE) by email to see when the package is ready which is crazy (I believe this portion of the email is old and just copy-pasted). Instead, Vienna now sends packages back via Austrian postal service, whatever that is.
So for everyone out there sending passport by mail (and not VAC centres) use a courier service like DHL, UPS or your local express post and don't worry about the return because Vienna won't return it like that.

You said you might go with DHL, what did you decide? Did you pay for the return? There was another person on this forum that said they paid for the return of the passport but Vienna returned the passport via Austrian postal service and she got her money back from DHL because the return waybill went unused.

sorry for the missunderstanding, they just gor my police certificate on Friday so I think i still have a few more days until I get the PR email. So if they are taking so long to return the passport and are not gonna do the overnight express then i guess I'll call the VAC office tomorrow to see if they are gonna do it faster, but please tell us when your husband gets the passport back so we can make an estimate of how long it takes.

 

[Toronto1989]

After almost 17 months of waiting they have requested a new police certificate and medical check from my husband... we were hoping that he would not have to re-do them since the letter we received from Vienna before was that he was in queue for an interview. I saw a couple posts that after the police certificate was sent a lot of you received the request for passports. What is the situation with the medical check ? As far as I know the check is done and then sent on to London for analyzing and its distributed from there to the correct embassies. Has anyone re-sent their medical ? May I ask how long it took ? Thank you !

 

[Avadava]

We just got home this morning at 5. It was a nice short trip. I have my visa and my COPR, yay!

We arrived in Vienna at 11 pm on Sunday and we stayed at a hotel close to the embassy (10 min walk). On Monday morning, we got to the embassy at 8:10 am. There were several people there waiting already. They opened at 8:30 am and we all went inside in the waiting area. Before allowing us inside, we had to go through a screening like at the airport (they take all your electronic devices - even earphones - and they put it in a locker, then they check you with a metal detector). They will give you a key to the locker (so be careful not to lose it!) and a number. There were 3 people in front of me, so it took about an hour to speak to the lady at the info booth. She took my passport and she asked me if I have the copy of the email they sent me (luckily I printed a copy and brought it with me). She left the booth for 5 mins and when she came back she told me to come back at 3 pm to pick up my passport. When I went back, I had to go through security screening again. The passport and the other documents were in a white envelope with my name on it. Before leaving the embassy, I checked all the documents to make sure that my name, date of birth, etc. were correct.

I have to say that the people there were very friendly. We couldn't leave the dog at the hotel (yes, the dog traveled with us to Vienna) so we took her with us to the embassy. They allowed the dog inside and they even played with her. The guards at the entrance gave her water and a blanket to stay on

They gave me back the pictures that we sent with the application. We are going to Canada after New Year's, in January (haven't booked the plane tickets yet, this week we'll start looking for some flights).

This is all so exciting and I'm really thankful that everything went smoothly and with no problems.

Good luck to all of you who are still waiting, and for those of you who received your visas, have a safe trip to Canada and good luck with your new life there. I will keep checking the forum anyway

 

[MrsStankovich]

Hi everyone, today our application status changed to In Process!

We went our 'proof of continuing communication' package about a week ago, and this morning we also had a request for a new medical.

;D ;D ;D ;D

 

[jagoda83]

Hi everyone, today our application status changed to In Process!

We went our 'proof of continuing communication' package about a week ago, and this morning we also had a request for a new medical.

;D ;D ;D ;D

Hello, can you please let me know how did you prepare Viber communication? I am constantly talking to my husband on Viber, almost no other communications.

They did not ask us for any proof but just in case,

Thanks

 

[jagoda83]

my husband lands on friday!.. Does anyone have experience landing and can share what questiosn they ask once you enetered canada? I want to make sure he can answer the question ( as his english is not so great)... Thanks.

Congratulations!!!
Can you please let us know what is the process of landing once your hubby lands? I landed at the office and I didn't have to leave and come back, I had a landing interview, Also, let us know which airport is he landing at? It will be the first point of entry in Canada.

Congrats again!!!

 

[madam-m]

Ok,i got my passport with COPR finally.

I am satisfied,in the end everything end up faster then we all thought,especially after prolongation processing time on 17months.
This couple of days for me was most stressful,cause they sanded me passport back in my home country no in Canada where I am. So my family need to send me finally here.But that I ll now forget and go further.
I am also interested what happens now,on the landing process.

I wish happiness to all,fast finishing of processes,and after request of police or medical everything goes smoothly.

 

[MrsStankovich]

Hello, can you please let me know how did you prepare Viber communication? I am constantly talking to my husband on Viber, almost no other communications.

They did not ask us for any proof but just in case,

Thanks

Hi jagoda,

We also constantly talk on Viber and WhatsApp. I scrolled through the conversations on my phone and took screenshots whenever it said Incoming call or Outgoing call. I tried to get a few for every month. Sometimes when there is more than one outgoing/incoming call for one day, you can click the down arrow and a dialog box opens showing all the calls.
But mostly I just took screenshots of a few calls from each month. It took a while. We did the same for Skype calls.

 

[Dusica]

Can anybody please describe the process of landing at the CIC office in Canada?

I am suppose to land at the office soon, so I am interested what is the process like and what exactly do they ask.

Thank you.

 

[Mikac15]

Hi everyone, today our application status changed to In Process!

We went our 'proof of continuing communication' package about a week ago, and this morning we also had a request for a new medical.

;D ;D ;D ;D

After you send medical you will get passport request! We sent my husbands passport yesterday! Congrats!

 

[MrsStankovich]

After you send medical you will get passport request! We sent my husbands passport yesterday! Congrats!

I hope we get it fast! We are so excited!!!